


Maybe I'll flirt with you

by pineapple_boop



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: First Kiss, Flirting, Flirty Danny, Idiots in Love, M/M, Oblivious Steve, One Shot, mcdanno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 21:17:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20014933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pineapple_boop/pseuds/pineapple_boop
Summary: Steve notices Danny's flirting annoys him to death. That is, when he's flirting with other people. Danny catches on and gives Steve his undying attention. Steve has no idea how to cope as he tries to figure out what the hell is going on.





	Maybe I'll flirt with you

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't set during a certain moment in the show, the Five-O task force is in it's original setup and our boys are as in love as ever. Had a lot of fun writing this, hope you enjoy reading it!

“Let’s go, babe,” Danny calls out to him, blonde hair poking through the doorway to Steve's office, a happy grin on his face.

“What’s up?” Steve asks while grabbing his gun and badge off his desk.

“Dead guy washed up on the beach, some surfers found the body earlier this morning”, Danny answers, already walking out of the office, hips swaying.

Steve takes a short sprint to catch up with him and he reaches inside Danny’s pants pocket, pulling out the keys to the Camaro. Danny frowns at him, lets out an "hey!" and tries to swat his hand away, but Steve’s too fast.

Danny stops walking, letting Steve pass him so he pushes open the door and steps outside first, turning around to look at Danny with a big grin on his face.

“One day, I’m going to file a complaint against you, just so you know,” Danny starts, his hands swaying around in the way he always does when he’s getting round up about something. “You, my friend, have a problem with personal space and respecting other people’s possessions.”

Steve’s grin grows even wider and he feels his heart swell a little. He loves their stupid arguments to death, his day doesn’t feel complete without one.

“Whatever you say, babe,” Steve answers while walking up to his partner’s car and unlocking it.

Danny looks at him over the roof of the car, his forearms resting on top of it, giving Steve a view of the fabric of his shirt pulling tight over his toned arms and broad chest. Steve’s heart flutters against his chest at the hand gestures Danny makes while talking to him, a small grin playing around his lips.

“Don’t ‘babe’, me,” Danny says, making quotation marks in the air with his index fingers. “You’re just a control freak, that’s your problem.”

Steve’s still smiling when he sits down in front of the steering wheel, Danny mirroring him on the other side of the car.

“I’m glad you’ve got it all figured out,” Steve answers, putting the key in the ignition and starting up the engine. He marvels at the beautiful sound the engine makes for a moment, before looking at Danny with, what he hopes to be, a confident grin. “Babe. 

Danny rolls his eyes at him, but Steve sees him smile before he looks out of the window on his side. Steve knows Danny secretly loves their little arguments too, even though he’ll never admit it.

The drive to the crime scene only takes them about 10 minutes, with the roads just starting to clear out a little after rush hour. They talk about what they did during the weekend, Steve happily listens to Danny gloat about how well Grace did cheering for a football match.

Steve knows he should probably be paying more attention to the road, but seeing Danny proudly talk about his daughter is just the most adorable thing he’s ever seen. He can’t help but notice the wrinkles that appear next to Danny’s eyes when he smiles, or the way his entire body seems to move with the story he’s telling.

Luckily, they arrive at the beach before Steve can crash the car and they stroll down towards the beach. Steve already spots the hustle of HPD’s blue and the crime scene processing unit from the parking lot.

Steve spots Max first so he grabs Danny’s arm to get his attention and points towards where Max is standing. Danny answers with a soft hum and a hand on Steve’s lower back, leading him towards what must be the spot where the body washed ashore.

Steve knows Max will start unloading a lot of information on him the moment he notices them, so he tries to pull himself back to what he’s supposed to be doing. Except all he can focus on is Danny’s hand on his back, the warmth of it seeming to burn through his shirt, making the hair on Steve’s neck stand up and his heart race.

When Danny removes his hand to gesture at the dead body at their feet, Steve feels himself get pulled back to reality. He's grateful and disappointed at the same time.

“So, what’s all this, Max?” Danny asks, putting his hands on his hips. “Enlighten us with your wisdom.”

Steve can’t contain a grin at Max’s happy smile when he answers. “Thank you for asking and for the compliment, detective.”

Max proceeds to explain the situation to them. He points out a nasty wound on the victim’s skull, which makes it unnecessary to say that the cause of death is most likely blunt force trauma to the head.

Steve tries to focus on Max’s fast paced explanation, but his gaze keeps getting pulled to his partner at his side. By the looks of it, Danny’s not listening to a word Max is saying. Steve sees he keeps eyeing a young woman who seems to be putting some evidence in a plastic evidence bag.

“Max, if you would pause for a second,” Steve asks. “Danny, can you focus on what we’re doing here?”

Danny faces him with a smirk on his face, “Do any of you know who that is?” Danny gestures towards the young woman he was staring at, “I think I would’ve remembered if I’d seen her before.”

Max follows Danny’s gaze and his face lights up. “Oh! That would be my internee, Megan,” Max explains. “She needs some field experience, so I took her under my wing.”

Danny’s grin grows even wider as he answers, “Well that’s very commendable of you, Max.”

Max is practically beaming at Danny’s compliment and Steve rolls his eyes. Danny always knows exactly what to say to get on people’s good side.

“Why don’t you call her over so we can meet her?” Danny asks, pulling back his shoulders and combing a hand through his hair. “You know, so we know who we’re working with.”

Steve rolls his eyes again, Danny’s extremely annoying when he’s like this. But before Steve can put an end to the whole situation, Max is already calling Megan over.

Now obviously, Steve’s not blind. He can see what Danny sees in this woman. She’s slightly taller than Danny is, but appears petite anyway. She has a soft smile that reaches her eyes, which are surrounded by small freckles. Her hair falls in waves around her face and well, she’s cute.

That doesn’t take away the fact that Steve doesn’t like her from the start. He doesn’t like it at all when new people suddenly join the team, even if it’s just temporary. Especially if those new people are a distraction to one of his colleagues.

Danny’s shaking Megan’s hand, while still wearing that annoying flirty smile. Steve has to suppress the urge to roll his eyes again when he shakes Megan’s hand too.

“Max, why didn’t you inform me that there’d be someone joining the team?” Steve asks firmly, his tone a little harsher than he intended.

“Well, commander,” Max starts calmly, “because she will be under my supervision at all times and is nearly done with her education, I figured it would be okay.”

Steve lets out a soft sigh, it’s absolutely impossible to get mad at Max. “Well, just fill me in the next time, okay?”

Steve hears Danny scoff beside him and everybody turns their attention to him. “You’ll have to excuse this guy, he’s an absolute animal without manners.”

Megan giggles at Danny’s comment and Steve feels like Danny’s smug, self indulgent smile could make him vomit on the spot.

“Why don’t you carry on with your explanation, Max?” Steve asks, not hiding his irritation by shooting Danny an annoyed glance.

“Yeah, go on, Max,” Danny seconds while giving Steve a daring stare, holding eye contact.

They stare at each other for a while, but Steve breaks under Danny’s piercing blue eyes and looks away.

Danny keeps interrupting Max’s explanation with smart remarks, making both Max and Megan laugh. Steve only grows more and more annoyed, and he’s ready to drag Danny back to the car when Max is finally done talking.

“Thank you for your insight Max,” Danny says, trying to sound smart.

“No problem, detective,” Max answers proudly, “As I said, we found a receipt from a bar in the victim’s pocket. The time stamp indicates he was there approximately 2 hours before his time of death.”

Danny keeps up the ‘detective’ tone in his voice, “The people there probably saw our vic last, we’ll see if anybody noticed anything out of the ordinary.”

Max nods and turns to Megan, “Now if you’ll excuse me, Megan and I need to perform an autopsy.”

“Of course! You can’t keep chatting with us all day,” Danny says with that dumb grin plastered to his face. Steve notices a glimmer in Danny’s eyes and he’s about to roll his eyes again, Danny seriously needs to stop being so obvious.

Danny gestures at the body at their feet, “I never thought I’d be jealous of a dead guy, but here we are.” Danny shamelessly winks at Megan, who giggles again, hiding her smile behind her hand.

“That’s enough, let’s go”, Steve says while grabbing Danny’s bicep. He feels Danny stagger, but Steve doesn’t slow his pace.

“Very nice to meet you, Megan!” Danny yells, walking backwards while Steve pulls him back to the parking lot.

“Nice to meet you too, detective!” Steve hears Megan shout back, a laugh still audible in her high voice.

Steve sees Danny wave at her from the corner of his eye and he pulls his arm from Steve’s grip. He feels Danny’s stare on the side of his face, but ignores it as he walks up to the Camaro.

“What was that all about, huh?” Danny asks. Steve recognises Danny’s tone immediately and knows he’s in for another argument, but not one he’s going to enjoy this time.

“I was wondering the same thing, Danny,” Steve answers while he unlocks the car and lowers himself into the driver’s seat.

He starts the car without waiting for Danny to step inside and impatiently taps his fingers on the steering wheel. They’re out of the parking lot before Danny’s had the time to put his seatbelt on.

“You were practically dragging me away from that conversation,” Danny starts, an annoyed tone in his voice.

“We have a lead,” Steve answers coldly, “It’s our job to follow up on it.”

Danny frowns and stares at him for a moment, making Steve shift in his seat a little as he stares at the road with a concentrated expression.

“You’re jealous because she liked me better, aren’t you?” Danny asks, his tone amused now.

Steve rolls his eyes and looks at the satisfied expression on Danny’s face for a moment. “Don’t be ridiculous, of course not.”

Danny lets out a chuckle that triggers a tug in Steve’s stomach. “You just can’t handle it when the attention’s not on you, Commander.”

Steve tries to ignore him, hoping Danny will just shut up if he lets him rant. “Well strong, dark and brooding won’t get you everywhere, that’s what we've proved today,” Danny concludes.

“Are you done?” Steve asks impatiently. He’s ready for this conversation to be over, Danny’s ‘observations’ are annoying the hell out of him.

“Am I done?” Danny asks sarcastically while gesturing at himself, his eyebrows raised. “I’m not the one acting like an angry frat boy.”

“I’m not acting like an angry frat boy, Danny,” Steve says, sounding a little tired.

“Whatever, babe,” Danny says, that amused tone still in his voice. Steve’s stomach jolts at hearing Danny’s nickname for him.

The rest of the drive to the victim’s last known location passes in silence. Steve can almost feel Danny’s amusement radiate off him and it annoys him to no end. Causing Steve to drive a little more aggressive and stopping the car with a harsh jolt in the empty parking lot in front of the bar.

Steve forces himself to calm down and waits for Danny at the entrance of the bar. Danny walks up to him and gestures at him to go inside. Steve pushes open the wooden door and is met with a wide room that looks kind of depressing.

The interior of the bar is very old fashioned, everything’s made out of wood. The small windows and dim lights make the room look very dark and Steve can barely make out the leather seats in the back.

They walk up to the bar and Steve rests his hands on the counter, looking for someone who works there. There’s nobody in the bar besides them and Steve’s surprised as to why the owners would leave the door open, if the bar is left unsupervised.

After a few seconds of silence they hear a door open and close behind them and Steve turns around, meeting the eyes of a woman in a black shirt and jeans. “Can I help you?” she asks, her voice sounding raspy.

“We’re 5-O, we’d like to asks you some questions,” Steve tells her, following her with his eyes as she walks past him. The strong smell of smoke whips past him as the woman steps behind the counter, looking at them curiously.

“We were wondering if you can tell us anything about one of your customers last night,” Danny fills in, leaning forward and resting his forearms on the counter.

“You’re going to have to be a little more specific, the place was pretty packed yesterday,” the woman answers, picking up some clean glasses on the counter and turning around to put them back on the shelves behind her.

The conversation doesn't last very long and the woman, a bartender as it turns out, explains to them she saw the victim leave about 2 hours before his time of death, like Max said. She says she didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, but wasn’t paying much attention either, because she was the only employee at the bar last night.

Steve thanks her for her cooperation and asks her if they can have her phone number, in case they have any more questions 

“Sure,” she answers nonchalantly and scribbles it down on a sticky note.

Danny picks it up and looks at the woman with a smile. “You’ve got a last name too,” Danny looks down at the note, “Jane?”

“Uh, yeah, of course,” Jane answers, taking the note from Danny. She scribbles something else down and hands it back.

“Thank you for you help, Jane Austin,” Danny says, flashing another big grin while walking towards the exit. Steve nods at Jane and follows Danny out of the door.

Steve opens his mouth to discuss what they should do next, but is interrupted by someone calling out behind them. “Danny!” Steve looks around and sees someone walking up to them.

As they come closer, Steve sees it’s Audrey, one of Mary’s friends. Steve set up a date between her and Danny about a week ago.

Danny’s face lights up and pulls Audrey in for a hug. “Hey! How are you?” he asks, holding her a little longer than necessary.

“I’m good, it’s really nice to see you again!” she says, “I haven’t heard from you after we had dinner!”

Danny puts on another flirty grin and buries his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry about that, got caught up in work, you know how that goes.”

Audrey lets out a laugh that sounds a little too sincere and Steve crosses his arms in front of his chest. The whole conversation is making him feel really uncomfortable and again, annoyed. Steve has a weird feeling in his stomach he can’t quite place, and he notices he doesn’t really want to watch this.

Steve stands beside the two for a few minutes, as Danny and Audrey discuss their date last week and what they’re up to. Steve tries not to roll his eyes at every compliment Danny gives Audrey, or her soft giggles at his flattery.

When Audrey pushes Danny’s chest a little after he’s made a stupid joke, which leaves them both laughing, Steve decides he’s suffered through enough of this conversation. He coughs and Danny and Audrey turn their attention to him.

“We need to get back to work, Danny,” Steve says, his voice cold as ice. “It was nice to see you again Audrey,” Steve says while turning to Audrey, trying to sound a little warmer.

“Sure!” Audrey answers, darting her eyes between Steve and Danny, clearly uncomfortable. “I better get going too, I’ll miss my yoga class.”

“Wish I could join you,” Danny says, that stupid grin still on his face. “But as my grumpy partner over here said, duty calls.”

“Well, you guys keep on catching bad guys!” Audrey calls out while walking away from them. “And don’t forget to call me when you’re done, Danny!”

Danny waves at her, his other hand still in his pocket. “I’ll see you around!”

Steve's posture relaxes when he sees Audrey finally turn the corner on the block. He decides he doesn’t want to spend another second in this parking lot and quickly walks up to the car.

He hears Danny following behind him and they open the doors to either side of the car at the same time. Danny lets out a groan as he flops down in his seat.

“I’ll see you around?” Danny starts, a pained expression on his face. “God, that was bad.”

Steve doesn’t answer and pretends to be busy navigating the car out of the parking lot, even though it’s still empty. They sit in silence for a moment, Steve driving back to headquarters, because he doesn’t really know what else to do.

Danny talks about Audrey and the conversation they just had for a while, but Steve doesn’t answer and Danny falls silent again.

“What’s with the face?” Danny asks, clearly a little annoyed at Steve ignoring him.

“Leave it Danny, I’m not in the mood,” Steve answers, hoping Danny will drop it, but knowing he won’t.

“You seemed to be doing just fine this morning, what’s going on?” Danny asks, the tone that says they’re having another argument back in his voice.

Steve sighs, “I said, leave it.”

Danny lets out a huff of air and puts up his hands defensively at Steve’s angry tone. “Wow, okay, seriously, what’s going on with you?”

Steve knows he can’t win and rolls his eyes, Danny never drops anything. “Fine, god, you’re so stubborn,” Steve says, avoiding eye contact with his partner.

“Hm, I’m stubborn, sure, okay,” Danny says softly and Steve breathes in sharply through his nose at Danny’s sarcastic tone.

“I just think that it’s kind of unprofessional to flirt with people while you’re working,” Steve says firmly, trying to make it sound like this is him lecturing Danny as his superior.

Danny lets out a laugh, “Is that what this is about?”

“You’re the one who made a big deal out of it,” Steve says, mad at himself for how small his voice sounds. So much for the ‘boss talk.’

“You can’t be serious, Steve,” Danny says, the laugh still in his voice.

Steve feels himself growing defensive and he snaps back a little louder than intended, “What? I’m serious!”

“You’re being completely ridiculous,” Danny says, his tone starting to sound defensive too.

“How am I being ridiculous? I’m not the one flirting with every new person I meet!” Steve answers, his voice still raised.

Danny lets out an offended sound and raises his hands in disbelief. “Excuse me!” Danny starts and Steve knows he’s in for one of Danny’s rants, complete with angry hand gestures.

“First of all, I don’t flirt with every new person I meet.”, Danny says, holding up his index finger.

Now raising his middle finger too, Danny continues talking rapidly. “And second of all, you’re the one who set me up on a date with her! Why are you freaking out over it all of a sudden?”

Steve lets out a frustrated sigh, “I’m not freaking out! I just want us to do our jobs!”

“Oh, you think I’m not doing my job right, is that it?” Danny says, sounding really offended and a little hurt, but trying to conceal it by yelling at him.

“That’s not what I said”, Steve answers, mad at himself for overreacting.

“Well, it sure as hell sounded like that’s what you meant”, Danny says while crossing his arms in front of his chest and staring out of the front window.

Steve breathes in deeply, a heavy feeling settling in his stomach. “Can we just drop this?” he asks softly.

“Yeah, let’s get back to doing our jobs, huh?” Danny notes sarcastically. 

Steve feels a pang in his chest at this and breathes out through his nose. “Just leave it, okay?” Steve concludes, ending the argument there, the air in the car thick and almost vibrating with energy.

The team ends up going home early that day, celebrating the weekend. Steve drives home a little frustrated, every lead they got on the case turned up with a dead end. He hopes he’ll be able to relax a little once he gets home, an unsolved case always leaving him with tension in his shoulders.

Steve parks his truck in front of his house, rolling his shoulders as he walks up the driveway and unlocks the front door. He walks straight to the kitchen and is tempted to grab a beer, but pours himself a glass of water instead.

He leans against the kitchen counter while sipping his water and takes a few deep breaths. Something is stirring in his chest, but he’s not sure what it is. Steve feels like how he felt in high school the night before a big presentation, the day he started his SEAL training or his first official day as leader of the 5-O task force.

He feels antsy, anxious and a little giddy. It doesn’t matter how many deep breaths he takes, the feeling doesn’t go away. He sets his empty glass down on the counter and walks upstairs to change into some workout clothes. He needs some distraction.

Steve changes into some shorts and a tank top, pulls on his running shoes and walks out onto his beach. He starts by walking to warm his muscles, following the path he always takes when going for a short run.

After a while he starts to jog slowly and rolls his head and shoulders to loosen up the muscles. He does some interval training, taking a few sprints, but eventually settles into a comfortable jogging tempo, focussing on keeping his breathing steady.

He tries to stop his thoughts from going over the events of that day, but he knows it’s no use. Steve also knows that exercise helps him process things in a healthy way, giving his mind the space and time to think over everything that’s happened. That doesn’t mean he really wants to ‘process things in a healthy way.’

Sometimes he just wants to push all of the thoughts away and pretend nothing’s bothering him. It’s so much easier to focus on the physical problems than the mental ones. Maybe that’s why he’s not scared of any physical things, because he can solve those.

Unlike the immaterial ones, the ones he has zero control over and that scare the shit out of him. Steve shakes his head and takes a deep breath, this is not helping at all. But his mind keeps racing, no matter how desperately he tries to stop it.

His mind decides to torment him by thinking about Danny, who happens to be afraid of everything physical. Open water, tight spaces, bombs, spiders, things like that. Steve grins at the memory of ‘saving’ Danny from a tiny spider that ran across his desk once.

But thinking of Danny brings back the events of that day and Steve frowns, the annoying feeling in his chest settling back down. He notices he feels guilty. He really acted like a jerk for no reason today. Dragging Danny around like he’s his property and insulting him, even though he did nothing wrong.

What’s the matter with him?

The thought has Danny’s voice inside Steve’s head and he smiles again. He has to make it up to him, Danny makes him happier than anybody else in the world and Steve can’t stand them fighting. Or, well, Steve being an idiot and Danny taking the heat for it.

Steve decides he’ll call Danny when he gets home and tell him he was just jealous like Danny said. That it annoyed him that Danny seems to be doing better with women than he is. Steve already knows Danny will gloat about him admitting that for weeks, but he’ll endure that if that’s what it takes for things to get back to normal. 

Somewhere deep down, Steve knows that he’s lying to himself and that he’ll be lying to Danny on the phone later. But he decides to ignore it, pushing it away because he just doesn’t want to deal with complicated emotions right now.

When he gets home he forces himself to take a shower first, pulling off his sticky clothes and putting on something more comfortable. In sweatpants and a loose fitting shirt, he walks downstairs, a knot forming in his stomach.

He does every possible chore he can think of first. The dishes, vacuuming the living room floor, picking up his clothes and putting them in the washing machine, taking out the trash and straightening the pillows on his couch. Eventually he can’t think of anything else to do and picks up his phone.

His thumb hovers over the green call button and Steve sighs. Admitting he’s wrong is not his favourite thing in the world. Luckily, or unfortunately, Steve isn’t sure, his phone lights up before he can do anything.

The caller ID says it's Max and Steve picks up immediately, feeling himself flip into work mode. “McGarrett,” Steve says as he picks up the phone and walks upstairs to his room to change back into his work clothes.

Max explains to him that he went through the victim’s clothes again before closing down that afternoon and that he found some things he thought were “curious.” Steve tells him to give him the brief version and puts Max on speaker to pull on his pants.

“I found a package of cigarettes in the victims inside pocket, even though we didn’t find any proof that the victim smoked during the autopsy,” Max explains. “The package is half empty, suggesting the person it belongs to does smoke.”

Steve pauses to listen to the rest of Max’s explanation, picking up the phone again. Max explains he sent the package to the lab for processing and just got the results for a hit on the DNA found inside.

“The DNA did not belong to our victim,” Max continues, “but to a woman, named Jane Anderson.”

Steve’s head snaps upwards, something clicking in his head with the name. “Did you say Jane?”

He hears Max shuffle around on the other side of the line, “Yes commander, Jane Anderson.”

“Send the results to me, I’m calling everyone in to lead up on this,” Steve answers while hurrying downstairs, grabbing his gun and badge on the way to his truck. “Thanks for the lead, Max.” 

“It’s my pleasure,” Max answers, a proud smile shining through in his voice.

“You pulled me away from a really good pizza on a very comfortable couch for this,” Danny says while walking towards him in the main room of Five O's office. “This better be good.”

“I think it might be,” Chin says, leaving Steve grateful for not having to say anything.

He rapidly types on the table around which they’re gathered and pulls something up on the screens in front of them.

“I got here before you guys and did some digging,” Chin continues, pointing at a familiar face on the screen.

Steve frowns, “That’s the bartender Danny and I talked to this morning.”

Chin seems to be taken aback by this and Danny chimes in before he can say anything, “This explains why she didn’t give us her last name at first, she had to make up an alias.”

Kono chuckles and they all turn towards her, “Well it’s a pretty lousy one, Jane Austin? Anderson? Come on.”

Steve smiles at her lighthearted attitude and Kono grins back at him. “Well, what’d you find on her?”

“Get this,” Chin says and he pulls up another picture on the screen. “That’s her brother.”

“That’s our John Doe,” Danny states, crossing his arms in front of his chest and frowning. “What is her DNA doing on a pack of cigarettes inside his pocket, while he’s floating in the ocean?”

Steve mirrors Danny’s pose and turns towards him, “And why did she lie to us when we asked her about him?”

Chin answers by typing some more and pulling up a criminal record on the screen. “It could be because she’s wanted for stealing money from her employers in multiple states on the mainland,” he explains while leaning on the table, a serious expression on his face.

Danny fills his lungs with air loudly, pulling the attention towards him. “Yeah well, I feel like there’s a notable difference between stealing money from your boss and killing your own brother,” Danny says dryly. 

“Yeah well, she did lie to us and we need to find out why,” Steve says. “Do we have a last known address on her?”

Chin sighs, “No, I already checked, I’m guessing she either stays with someone else or bought the house under another alias.”

“Jane Allen, maybe?” Kono states with a playful grin on here face. Chin chuckles, but ignores her.

“I was just about to track the phone number she gave you guys, when you all came in,” Chin continues, focus back on the table in front of him.

It only takes him a few seconds before a map appears on the screen. “Got a hit,” Chin happily states, “It looks like she’s still at work.”

Steve puts his hands on his hips and grins, time to go. “Chin, you stay here and call it in the moment she moves,” Steve orders. “Kono, you guard the entrance of the bar. Danny and I look for her inside.”

Everybody nods and they’re off, following his orders like an oiled machine.

They drive towards the bar in the Camaro, Kono behind them in her own car. Steve tries to talk to Danny multiple times, but the conversation falls flat every time. He just doesn’t know what to say.

Steve’s relieved when they finally pull up at the bar, happy he has the case to focus on. The parking lot’s full, so Steve parks the car on the side of the road. He checks with Kono through his comm and when she tells him she’s in position, they go inside.

The bar’s completely packed, giving it a completely different vibe from that morning. It’s Friday evening, so Steve’s not surprised it's busy, but he worries about putting all of these people in danger. He doesn’t want to scare the suspect off, so he decides they’ll just have to try to do this quietly.

He makes his way through the crowd towards the counter, spotting a bartender behind it. Steve checks Danny’s behind him, who nods when he makes eye contact with him.

“Excuse me,” Steve calls out towards the bartender, raising his voice to be audible over the chatter and music in the background. “Can we speak to your colleague, Jane Anderson?”

The bartender turns his attention towards Steve and Danny, and looks at them with a frown. The guy’s a local, his toned skin, piercing brown eyes and strong posture make Steve’s breath hitch in his throat for a moment.

“Why do you ask?” he asks, setting the drink he’s making in front of him, all attention on Steve.

Steve swallows again, he seriously needs to pull himself together. “We’re 5-O,” Steve says, showing the bartender his badge. “We need to ask her some questions.”

The bartender nods slowly, “Okay.” He continues preparing the drink as he talks to them. “Her shift starts in about 30 minutes,” he says, “I wanted to ask her to come in earlier, but she left her phone here.”

Steve turns to look at Danny, who frowns at him. “Okay thank you, we’ll wait for her here,” Steve tells the bartender, nodding at him.

Danny leads them to a small table in the counter and turns around to talk to him. “So, what’s the plan?”

Steve frowns and thinks for a moment before answering. “I think we wait for 30 minutes, to see if she shows up for her shift,” he decides, “maybe she doesn’t suspect we have a lead on her, which means she’ll be doing everything she can to keep attention away from herself.”

Danny nods, “Suddenly breaking routine and disappearing is awfully suspicious for someone who isn’t a murderer.”

Steve hears Kono chuckle in his comm. “You got that Kono?” Steve asks her.

“Got it boss,” she answers, “a stakeout it is.”

Danny seems to agree with her, because he settles in one of the chairs at the table he’s standing beside. “Sit down, babe,” Danny calls out to him, a smile on his face.

Steve listens and sits down in front of him. It’s a table for two, so it’s way too small and Steve’s knees brush against Danny’s thighs when he tries to squeeze his long legs under it. Electricity shoots up his knees and settles in his stomach at the contact.

He tries to pulls his legs away to sit back further, but Danny softly grabs his knee under the table. Steve’s eyes shoot up towards his partner’s face, but Danny’s not looking at him. Danny’s hand lingers on his leg, thumb softly rubbing circles over his kneecap and Steve doesn’t how to respond.

“I’m ordering a drink, you want anything?” Danny asks him, finally turning his attention to Steve. Steve’s voice seems to be stuck in his throat somewhere, because he can’t seem to force any words out of his mouth. Not that he knows what to say anyway.

Danny chuckles, “Don’t hurt yourself there.” His hand disappears from Steve’s knee and Steve releases a breath he didn’t realise he was holding. “I’ll get you a beer,” Danny states and he walks away towards the bar.

Steve follows him with his eyes and pretends he isn’t staring at Danny’s ass as he walks away. He notices the way Danny leans against the counter as he tries to get the bartender’s attention, standing up on his toes to appear a little taller.

The handsome bartender walks up to him and they chat for a moment. Steve can tell from where he’s sitting that Danny’s flirting with him. His partner laughs sincerely at something the bartender said and Danny pushes him against his strong upper arm for a moment.

The touch causes Steve to feel a tug inside his chest and he looks away, annoyed. When Danny finally returns with their drinks Steve is all worked up again, unable to stop himself from snapping at him.

“Danny,” Steve starts, his voice low and a little angry, “why are we drinking on the job?”

Danny flops down in front of him, shamelessly stretching his legs between Steve’s, their calves making contact under the small table. Steve tries to pull his legs away, but his right leg is already resting against the wall next to him and he can’t go anywhere.

“It’s just part of the cover babe, try to loosen up a little,” Danny states calmly, a grin playing around his lips.

“You’re not exactly blending in what that look on your face, Mr. Navy,” Danny teases, giving him a nudge with his legs.

Steve feels another jolt inside his stomach, Danny’s legs hot against the calf of his right leg. Annoyance rises in his chest, along with something else he can’t quite place.

They’re silent for a while, Steve observing the people in the bar. He always sits with has back to the wall, a clear view of the entrance and the rest of the room. This time he’s seated on the far side of the room, a few tables away from the back, so he’s able to observe everybody around him.

After a while, a young waitress comes up to them and asks if she can get them anything. A grin spreads on Danny’s face and before Steve can tell her they’re fine, Danny answers.

“We’re all good,” he says, the flirty tone back in his voice.

“Okay!” the waitress calls out, “If you could let me through for a second?”

“Of course,” Danny says, winking at her. He moves his chair forwards a little, bumping his legs against Steve’s again.

Before Steve can get a hold of what he’s doing, he’s pulled Dany to his feet and further into the bar, until they find a corner that’s a little quieter. Steve pulls his comm out of his ear and crosses his arms in front of his chest, looking down at Danny with an angry expression.

Danny looks confused, but the grin still plays around his lips. “What’s wrong, babe?” Danny asks, pulling his comm out too.

“You need to stop doing this,” Steve tells him, gesturing in Danny’s general direction.

“I need to stop what, exactly?” Danny asks, something in his eyes telling Steve he knows exactly what Steve means.

“That whole act just now and with the bartender earlier,” Steve sums up, “don’t think I didn’t notice that.”

Danny shakes his head and chuckles, “Seriously, what’s been going on with you? Jealous?”

Steve breathes in sharply at Danny’s amused tone. He’s annoyed that Danny doesn’t seem to be taking him seriously, but he feels colour rising to his face too.

“No, I’m just-,” Steve starts, stopping himself because he sounds a little too harsh. “It’s distracting, okay?”

“What? Me talking to someone?” Danny challenges him, the grin spreading wider on his face.

“No, you flirting with everyone,” Steve snaps back.

Danny breathes in sharply and Steve sees irritation flicker in his eyes. “Again, I don’t flirt with everyone, quit pretending we’re in college.”

“I’m-, I’m not the one who’s doing that!” Steve stammers, wanting to punch himself for how stupid he sounds.

Before Danny can snap back, someone pushes against him and Danny falls forwards against Steve’s chest. Steve grabs Danny’s arms in a reflex, keeping him steady. His breath catches in his throat and he swears he can feel his heart skipping a beat.

Danny plants his hand on Steve’s chest, keeping himself from falling over and calling out to the person behind him to watch out.

Danny turns his attention back to Steve and pulls his hand back, but doesn’t take a step away from him. Steve notices his own breathing is faster than usual and he’s confused, what’s happening?

Danny frowns at him, “You’re being ridiculous Steve, calm down.”

“I am calm!” Steve says, sounding a little panicked.

Danny chuckles, “I can assure you that this,” Danny gestures at him, “is not what calm looks like.”

Steve takes a deep breath, “Well, I’ll calm down when you take your job, that’s filled with dangerous situations, seriously!”

Danny takes a deep breath through his nose and steps back, a hurt expression on his face. Steve immediately regrets what he said and opens his mouth to apologise, but Danny stops him.

“Okay, where the hell did that come from?” Danny asks sharply.

“I didn’t mean that,” Steve answers, his voice sounding small.

Danny puts up a finger between them and points at him accusingly, “What’s the matter with you, huh?”

“Nothing,” Steve quickly answers, his voice still soft.

Danny lets out a sarcastic laugh, still looking angry. “Oh no, clearly, you’re doing fine! You always act like this, sure.”

Steve frowns, “Act like what?”

“Like a jealous high school boy,” Danny states, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“I’m not acting like that,” Steve answers, looking down at Danny’s chest, unable to remain eye contact.

“Yeah you are, what’s your problem with me flirting with people?” Danny asks, his voice a little loud and angry. Steve shrinks in on himself at the sound.

He sighs, “I don’t know, I just don’t like it.” He has no idea what’s going on or why he sounds so small, but Steve’s not enjoying this conversation at all.

“So you’re jealous,” Danny states and Steve looks back up to meet his partner’s eyes.

This is his chance to tell Danny what he thought of earlier that afternoon, during his run. Steve sighs again, this conversation is about to get worse.

“Yeah, uh, maybe I am,” Steve looks away again, frustrated at admitting to something this stupid.

Danny’s silent for a moment and Steve shifts under his piercing gaze. “You’re lying,” Danny says, sounding a little confused, all of the anger out of his voice.

“No, I’m not,” Steve tries to argue, not wanting Danny to prod. “You just seem to be doing better with women than I am.”

Danny lets out a laugh and relaxes his posture, an amused look on his face. “Even though I absolutely love it that you’re saying that,” Steve rolls his eyes at Danny’s happy tone, but Danny ignores him. “You’re lying,” Danny states again, not backing down.

“No, I’m not,” Steve says again, almost laughing at his own pathetic attempts to argue with Danny.

“Yeah you are,” Danny argues back, “and that’s not what I meant when I asked if you were jealous.” Steve frowns and looks at Danny, what is he talking about?

“Well, what did you mean then?” Steve asks, still curious even though he knows he probably won’t like where this conversation is going.

“You’re jealous,” Danny starts, his blue eyes staring at him and the grin back on his face, “because you don’t like it when my attention’s on someone else.”

Steve looks at Danny for a moment, astound. “What? That’s ridiculous, Danny,” Steve says, not even convincing himself. That feeling in his chest is back, telling him something he already knows deep down.

Danny can’t keep up his serious expression and smiles even wider, “I swear to god you’re blushing.”

“Shut up, Danny,” Steve says, turning his head away in an attempt to hide his face.

“So you’re not denying it?” Danny continues.

“What?” Steve asks, playing dumb, hoping this conversation will just end.

“That you want my attention on you,” Danny says, dropping his voice and shifting his tone to the one he’s used so many times that day.

Steve panics a little and raises his voice, “No! That’s not what I said.”

“But it’s what you want,” Danny snaps back to him. Danny takes a step closer to him and Steve’s heart rate quickens.

“What? I, no, what?” Steve stammers, unable to form words properly, staring at Danny’s broad chest.

“No, I see how it is,” Danny says, his voice still low and flirty.

Steve gulps and breathes deeply through his nose, what the hell is going on?

“Maybe I’ll flirt with you then, how about that?” Danny says softly, turning his head like he wants to whisper in Steve’s ear.

Steve has no idea what to say and just stares at Danny with big eyes. He’s scared shitless and his chest feels tight, but he’s curious to see what Danny’s going to do next.

“Because I see the way you look at me Steve, I’m not an idiot,” Danny continues, looking at Steve’s lips and back at his eyes.

Steve swallows thickly, “I-, how, what? What are you talking about?” Steve stammers again. His brain feels like pulp.

Danny chuckles, deep and low. “God, you’re so easy.”

“What does that mean?” Steve asks, his voice a whisper.

Danny smiles at him, a sparkle in his eyes. “It means, babe,” Danny starts, stepping even closer to him, “that it takes the tiniest thing to make you a stuttering mess. It’s kind of adorable.”

Steve becomes aware of his own fast and ragged breathing, but isn’t even embarrassed. “Adorable?” Steve asks, faintly aware of how dumb he must sound.

“Yeah,” Danny says. “Of course you look all tough with you tattoos and strong arms,” Dannytakes another step, so their chests almost touch and cranes his head to look at Steve’s arms. He touches Steve’s bicep and Danny’s fingers feel like fire against Steve’s arm as they trace the tattoos just under his sleeve.

“With your rough Navy SEAL attire and the badge and gun,” Danny continues, “but I see you.”

Danny pulls his attention away from Steve’s arm and looks up at him. Steve swallows at Danny’s gaze, unable to stand still, nerves shooting up and down his body.

“I see that naive, soft, teenage boy inside you and I love that side of you,” Danny ends, something endearing in his eyes.

Steve takes a few breaths before he can say anything. “Danny, what-,” Steve’s voice comes out shaky and Danny interrupts him.

“Calm down, babe, I’ve got you,” Danny says softly, his voice both caring and flirty.

Danny reaches for Steve’s chest and opens his mouth to say something, but both of them are pulled harshly back to reality. Kono’s yelling something out of their comms that dangle around their necks.

Steve blinks a few times and needs a moment to regain his posture, but Danny’s already walking back to the front of the bar, rapidly talking to Kono through his comm.

The next few moments happen in a flash and Steve feels himself switch to work mode again, pushing whatever just happened between him and Danny to the back of his mind.

Jane walks in and, naturally, tries to run when she spots them. But Kono’s smacked her to the ground just outside the bar before she could even leave the parking lot. Steve looks at her with a proud smile on his face.

“Nice one, Kono,” he says, Kono grinning back at him.

“Book her, Danno,” Steve continues, turning his head to meet Danny’s eyes. The flirty grin is back on his partner’s face and Steve’s pretty sure Danny even winks at him while grabbing his handcuffs.

“Will do, babe,” Danny tells him and he reads Jane her rights as he handcuffs her, her face still on the ground.

Steve’s standing in the interrogation room, dimly lit with blue light. With his arms crossed in front of his chest, he stares at the woman on the metal chair in front of him. Sometimes he’s amazed by what people are willing to do for money.

“So, what’s up with you not telling us about your dead brother, hm?” Danny starts, standing next to him, hands in his pockets.

Jane squirms in her seat and looks down at the ground. “I’m not talking to you,” she says softly.

“Yes, you are,” Steve answers, leaning over and bending through his knees a little to meet her eyes, “because you don’t want to spend the rest of your life in prison.”

Danny hums and Steve feels his presence next to him. He straightens his back and takes a small step back, sensing that Danny wants to take the lead on this.

“You seem like a smart woman, Jane,” Danny says, in his ‘good cop’ voice. “Well, apart from the whole, stealing money from your boss and killing your own brother thing, of course,” Danny’s voice is dripping with sarcasm and Steve can’t contain a smile at the sound.

Jane looks up to meet Danny’s eyes, panic flickering in her face. “I didn’t kill James, okay?” she says, voice high and strained, “We barely talked, we didn’t really know each other.”

Danny pouts and opens his arms in question. “Well, how did he end up dead in the ocean,” Danny gestures off to the side of the room, “with a pack of your cigarettes in his pocket then?”

Steve smiles again and Jane flicks her eyes towards him, like she’s looking for someone to help her. “Yeah, you’re not talking yourself out of this one,” Steve says, his voice a low hum.

Jane takes a deep breath and shifts in her seat again. “Okay listen,” she starts, her eyes darting between them, “we saw each other yesterday, we talked and he took my cigarettes away from me.”

Jane blinks a few times and looks away, sadness in her eyes. “He worried too much,” she says softly.

Steve stays quiet, hoping she’ll continue on her own. He meets Danny’s eyes for a moment and they share a knowing look, Danny shares his strategy.

“He wanted me to stop, you know?” Jane continues, looking back up at them, her voice breaking. “With the stealing. But Josh wouldn’t have it,” she ends, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Danny, however, seems to feel no sympathy for her, because his voice is still dripping with sarcasm when he talks to her. “Oh Josh, hm?” Danny says, making eye contact with Steve before he continues, “You three sound like the setup of a shitty band from the 90’s! Jane, James and Josh.”

Danny lets out a chuckle at his own joke and Steve grins again, he can’t believe his partner sometimes. “Who’s Josh?” Steve asks Jane, ignoring Danny’s comment, but still smiling.

“My boyfriend,” Jane answers softly.

Danny hums again, “Ah, I take it he’s not the loving type?” Danny asks sarcastically.

Jane shoots her eyes to him and frowns, “He does love me!” Danny pouts again and nods, gesturing at her to continue.

“He just wanted James out of our hair, he said he’d just scare him a little, make him leave us alone,” Jane’s voice breaks again and she looks down at her lap.

“But instead, he kills him and disappears,” Danny concludes, “does that sound about right?”

Jane sighs and looks back up at him, “He called me in the middle of the night, telling me the police might show up. He told me not to say anything, that he took care of it.”

Steve breathes in deeply and Jane looks at him, fear in her eyes. “He wanted you to stay silent about your own brother’s murder?” Steve asks, not hiding the disgust he feels for Jane and her boyfriend from his voice.

“We didn’t have a choice!” Jane snaps back, “We didn’t want to spend the rest of our lives in prison!”

Steve lowers his face to hers again, “He will, but you won’t.” Steve’s voice is low and angry, “But that doesn’t change the fact that your brother’s dead and you’ll still have a lot of time to think about that.”

“Really dramatic way to split up the band, Jane,” Danny notes, a grin on his face.

Jane doesn’t answer, she just softly cries, her hair falling in front of her face and her shoulders shocking. Her sobs fill the quiet room and Steve feels a pang in his chest for the woman’s pain, but forces it away. What she did is terrible.

“Call someone over from HPD, I want her out of here and in jail, tonight,” Steve commands and Danny nods, grabbing his phone.

Five minutes later Jane, who’s still sobbing, is taken away by an HPD officer and Steve and Danny are left alone in the interrogation room.

Steve sighs and rubs his hands over his face. Too much stuff happened today, tonight. He needs some time to process everything.

He feels a hand against his shoulder and he looks up, finding Danny beside him. “Good job, babe,” Danny says softly, “let’s go home.”

Danny starts walking towards the door, but Steve stops him before he can leave the room by grabbing his wrist. “Danny, wait,” Steve says, voice heavy with remorse.

“I’m really sorry for what I said in the bar,” Steve says, not letting go of Danny’s wrist. “I know you take your job very seriously,” he continues, trying to sound as sincere as possible. Because it’s true, he doesn’t know anybody who’s as good at their job as Danny is.

Danny smiles and turns his body to face Steve, “It’s okay, I know you do.” Danny’s voice is soft and he grabs Steve’s arm with the hand Steve’s not holding.

Steve breathes in sharply at the touch, remembering how Danny touched his arm earlier that night. His heart rate quickens and he quickly lets go of Danny’s wrist, suddenly feeling like he’s crossing a line by touching him.

Something changes in Danny’s eyes and his posture shifts, leaning back a little and letting go of Steve’s arm. “Now I must say,” Danny says, his voice still soft but much lower this time, “you forgot about your job pretty quick back there too.”

Steve swallows thickly and takes a deep breath. “I-, what?” Steve says, his voice trembling a little. God, this is getting ridiculous.

Danny lets out a chuckle that sends shivers down Steve’s spine. “Here you go again!” Danny says joyfully, “It’s so easy, I barely have to work for it!”

Steve frowns and inspects his partner’s face, “Excuse me?”

“Oh you know I’m right,” Danny says, rolling his eyes at him. “Look,” Danny steps closer to him and Steve takes a few steps back, suddenly feeling the cold wall of the interrogation room against his back.

“It takes about 15 seconds to get you back in that same position,” Danny says, his voice a low whisper as he approaches Steve slowly. “You’re making this so easy, it’s barely fun anymore,” Danny stops walking towards him, only inches apart so he has to crane his neck to look Steve in the eyes.

Steve swallows again, extremely distracted by Danny’s blue eyes and the light stubble on his jaw. “What’s barely fun anymore?” Steve asks, his voice barely audible.

Danny rolls his eyes and puts his hand on the wall next to Steve, trapping him on one side. “How is it possible that you’re this oblivious, Steve?” Danny asks teasingly, a sparkle in his eyes.

“What?” Steve says, he’s so confused.

Danny puts his other hand against the wall too, trapping Steve between his arms. For a moment they just look at each other and Steve feels like he could melt onto the floor at any moment, trembling slightly under Danny’s gaze.

“Do you ever think about kissing me?” Danny suddenly asks.

Steve’s eyes widen at the question and he can’t stop himself from darting his eyes to Danny’s lips. “Uh, what?” Steve says again, slowly becoming aware of how ridiculous he sounds.

“You heard what I asked,” Danny says, a knowing smile on his face, “do you?”

Steve swallows and tries to look away, but Danny’s everywhere. His presence fills the entire room and Steve feels the heat radiating from Danny’s body in front of him. His brain isn’t working properly anymore and he’s still confused. Is Danny going to kiss him? Does he want him to?

Danny chuckles and the sound sends another shiver down Steve’s spine. “Don’t be shy babe, I already know the answer anyway,” Danny says, his voice low and demanding.

Steve feels panic swell in his chest, he has no idea how to deal with this situation. Something that doesn’t happen very often. “Then why do you ask?” Steve asks, having a feeling as to what Danny’s answer is going to be.

A wicked grin spreads across Danny’s face, “Because I love seeing you squirm, babe,” Danny says.

Steve lets out a laugh that sounds a little like a hysterical giggle, “Well that’s a little mean.”

Danny smiles back at him, “Yeah well, so is looking at me like that and invading my personal space all the time, but never making a move.”

Steve’s heart jumps in his chest at what Danny just said. “You wanted me to make a move?” Steve asks, not believing what he’s hearing.

“I got sick of waiting for you to figure it out, so I asked the guys if it wasn’t just me,” Danny starts. “You’re the least subtle person we know babe, Kono was surprised it took me so long to ask her,” Danny says, a happy smile on his face.

Steve frowns, “You guys ganged up on me?”

Danny laughs, “It’s your own fault for being so oblivious, babe.” Danny puts a hand on Steve’s neck, rubbing his jawline with his thumb. Steve freezes up at the touch and can’t do anything but stare at Danny with big eyes, his breathing fast.

Suddenly, Danny pulls away and is already halfway across the room before Steve realises what’s going on. “I’ll leave you to that,” Danny says, gesturing at him, “I’m getting some sleep.”

Danny flashes him one last smile before putting his hands in his pockets and walking out of the room. Steve slumps against the wall and takes a deep shuddering breath. His heart’s racing and his breathing is fast and shallow, chest heaving. He seriously needs to figure out what’s going on.

During the drive home Steve has to force himself to pay attention to the traffic around him. He nearly crashes into someone when they stop for a traffic light in front of him. Twice. So he’s very relieved when he finally closes the front door to his house behind him.

Like that afternoon, he walks straight to the kitchen, allowing himself to have a beer this time. He crashes down on the couch with the cold drink in his hand, muscles tired and mind racing. Steve sighs, he still doesn’t feel like dealing with all of this.

His emotions overwhelm him so easily and he doesn’t like not being in control, not having a say in what’s happening to his brain. But he knows it isn’t healthy to keep pushing everything away like he’s been doing for god knows how long.

Besides, Danny probably won’t let him leave this alone anymore. A soft smile spreads across Steve’s face at the thought of his blond haired, blue eyed, short tempered partner. A familiar warmth spreads trough Steve’s chest as he thinks about how much Danny means to him.

With that warm, happy feeling, fear settles in his chest too. What does everything that happened today mean? Has anything changed between them? Steve’s really not sure, because when he thinks about it, today wasn’t the first time Danny’s used that flirty tone with him.

Steve closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He knows he needs to let those thoughts in, the ones he pushed away during his run that afternoon. Because he knows that somewhere in the back of his brain, he knows what’s going on.

But it scares him. Because everything with Danny has always been so good. So steady. So real. So safe. And Steve doesn’t want that to change just because he decided that his feelings mattered more than their relationship.

When Steve’s honest with himself, when he really forces himself to be honest. He knows he can’t keep going like this. He knows he’s reaching a point where he won’t be able to take it anymore. He just has to know.

If Danny’s sure. He needs Danny to tell him if he’s not going crazy, if whatever’s been going on between them for so long is not just in his head. Steve doesn’t allow himself to feel hope, he shuts his heart inside a locked box, not letting it jump up at the thought of him and Danny, together.

Together in a way Steve’s secretly dreamed about for a really long time. In those quiet moments, when he observes Danny through his office window, when he’s going off on one of his rants, when he laughs at one of Steve’s jokes and when Danny finally shares some of his heart with him and Steve gets to know him better. 

He doesn’t allow himself to feel that pull, that longing. Because he doesn’t know yet. He’s not sure and not in control and he hates it.

So he stands up from the couch with a jolt, the beer in his hand almost spilling everywhere. He sets it down on the coffee table, not caring it’ll get warm. He hurries to grab his keys from where he put them just moments ago and opens his front door to the cool night air.

He jumps into his truck and drives to Danny’s house, thankful for how deserted to roads are. When he pulls up in Danny’s driveway, doubt settles in his stomach. Is this really a good idea? What if he’s wrong about all of this? If it’s better to just leave things as they are?

Before he can talk himself out of it, Steve forces himself to walk up to Danny’s doorstep. One step at the time. He can do this. It’s just Danny, who he’s known forever, who he trust more than anybody in this world.

His hand rings the doorbell like it has a mind off its own and Steve hears the sound echo in the quiet house. A few seconds later he hears someone stumble around behind the closed door and he recognises Danny’s voice call out something unintelligible.

The door swings open and Steve feels like someone’s slapped him in his face when he looks down at Danny. He’s wearing sweatpants and a loose white shirt, his hair ruffled and a beer in his hand. Steve has to take a moment to process how Danny looks, because he’s sure he’s never seen Danny look more handsome in his entire life.

“Back for more, huh?” Danny says, a playful grin on his face.

Steve takes a deep breath and gathers himself, “Can we please just go inside?”

Danny chuckles and moves out of the way to let him in, “You don’t have to beg just yet babe, come in.”

“Can I talk to you?” Steve immediately asks, scared he’ll chicken out if he doesn’t say what's on his mind right away.

Danny closes the door behind them and faces him. “You already are,” he says, that playful smile still lingering on his face, but concern flashing in his eyes.

“Are you serious about this?” Steve asks, trying really hard to sound confident, but failing miserably.

Danny frowns at him, “Serious about what?”

“Everything,” Steve answers,“the things you said at the bar and back at HQ.”

The smile is back on Danny’s face and he reaches past Steve, putting his beer on the table in his living room. Danny’s blue eyes meet Steve’s and he touches his forearm softly, the feeling of his fingertips making the hairs on Steve’s arms stand up.

“Of course I am,” Danny says softly, “I don’t really know how to make that more obvious.”

Danny smiles at him and Steve wants to slap himself for being so stupid. Danny has probably been flirting with him for years, not making any progress with Steve being too thick headed to realise what was happening.

Steve chuckles, he’s such an idiot. Danny laughs with him and the air clears a little with the sound of their laughter.

“I really am an oblivious idiot,” Steve says, an awkward smile on his face. He feels a little embarrassed.

Danny smiles too, “Yeah you are.” Danny searches Steve’s eyes and he sees something shift in Danny’s eyes again, like it did two times before that day.

“Good thing you’re so handsome,” Danny adds, a smile that tells Steve he knows exactly what he’s doing to him on his face.

Steve swallows and breathes in through his nose, feeling colour rise to his cheeks. He searches Danny’s face for hints on how he wants him to respond, but Danny just looks at him patiently. After what feels like an hour, Danny lets out another laugh.

“Dear god Steve, it’s like nobody’s ever flirted with you before,” Danny says with a grin, clearly having way too much fun.

Steve smiles nervously, “I guess you’re just good at it.”

Danny seems to be taken aback by that for a moment, but quickly gathers himself again. “I think that’s the first time you’ve ever said I’m good at something,” he teases.

“I have a feeling it won’t be the last,” Steve jabs back, surprised by how fast the answer came out.

Danny’s eyes light up and he raises his eyebrows, “Look at you! You can almost say intelligent stuff back!”

Steve chuckles at that and doesn’t argue, he knows Danny’s very aware of how Steve responds to his flirting. They stay silent again, sharing looks that say more than words ever can. Steve feels safe again, the annoying feeling in his chest finally dying away.

Steve knows Danny’s probably been waiting to talk about this for a long time, but now they’re both quiet, the air growing thick again. Steve wants to tell Danny so much, but he just doesn’t know how to put it into words.

After a while, Danny takes a few steps forward, pushing Steve against his front door. Even though they where in the exact same position only a few hours earlier, Steve has the same reaction.

His breath hitches in his throat, his heart rate speeds up and his eyes widen. Danny just smiles at him and puts his hands on Steve’s biceps.

“Hey, but I wasn’t done back at the bar, you know?” Danny says, his eyes looking Steve up and down.

Steve stares at Danny and tries to force out some semi-intelligent words. “Really? What’d you want to say?” Steve asks, trying to sound flirty, but it comes out a little strained.

Danny looks at his face, asking permission by raising his eyebrows and Steve nods. He trusts him, this is okay. A happy smile that turns into an extremely hot grin finds its way onto Danny’s face.

“I wanted to tell you about how much I like all of those sides of you,” Danny starts, sliding his hands down Steve’s arms and softly squeezing Steve’s hands before placing them on Danny’s hips, holding them there.

“The strong and fierce side, your soft and caring side and this,” Danny lets go of Steve’s hands to gesture at him, “complete mess you are right here.”

Steve swallows, not smiling at Danny’s joke, too awestruck by the fact that he’s holding Danny. That this is actually happening.

“It’s amazing how I can just do small stuff like this,” Danny continues, sliding his hands over the curve of Steve’s waist, up his stomach and resting his palms on Steve’s chest. “And you just turn into mush in my hands,” Danny says, his voice low and full of wonder.

Steve swallows and stares at Danny’s lips, he can’t believe how badly he want to kiss him. Danny seems to notice him staring, because his eyes flick upwards to meet Steve’s. The air almost crackles with the electricity between them and Steve can’t get a hold of his fast breathing.

“Because you’re such a crazy control freak,” Danny says, moving his hands to Steve’s neck, softly rubbing Steve’s jawline with his thumbs. “I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to see this side of you.”

Steve smiles at the tenderness in Danny’s voice, some of his nerves melting away. He knows he’s safe here, with Danny. “You’re enjoying this too much,” Steve says softly, his voice sounding stronger this time.

“Not as much as you are, babe,” Danny answers, his eyes sparkling.

Before Steve can respond, Danny closes the final distance between them and pushes their bodies together, burying his face in Steve’s neck.

“I love how you just, respond, when I do stuff like this,” Steve shivers at the feeling of Danny’s breath against his neck and he feels Danny smile against his skin.

“It’s so obvious and yet you still didn’t know,” Danny continues, pulling his face away from Steve’s neck to look at him. “You amaze me,” he ends.

Steve takes a few deep breaths, he feels a little overwhelmed. Danny’s so close, he can smell the shampoo in his hair and the beer on his breath. Everything about Danny makes Steve’s head spin and he doesn’t know what to do with himself, happy he’s leaning against the door and holding onto Danny’s hips.

“You okay there, Steve?” Danny asks, concern audible in his voice.

Steve hums and closes his eyes, needing a moment to regain his posture. “Yeah, I’m okay,” he whispers.

“If it’s too much we can stop,” Danny’s voice still sounds concerned and Steve opens his eyes. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” Danny continues and Steve smiles.

“No, it’s okay,” Steve affirms him, actually sounding confident this time.

Danny nods, but still frowns at him. “You sure?” he asks one more time and Steve’s chest swells at Danny’s concern for him. He’s so lucky.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Steve says, finally making up his mind on what he wants.

Steve leans forward and squeezes Danny’s hips, Danny rubs Steve’s jawline in response. Steve pulls Danny up a little and their lips meet.

Steve’s chest feels like it explodes at the contact, he forgets to breathe for a few seconds and takes a deep breath through his nose. The kiss isn’t perfect, their position is a little awkward and Steve isn’t exactly sure what he’s doing.

But it’s okay, because it’s Danny. Steve knows Danny wanted him to initiate the kiss, confirming that this is what he wants too. Steve pulls away and smiles, relief washing over him.

Danny smiles back at him, his eyes a little hazy and his breathing a little quicker now too. Steve puts his hands on Danny’s lower back, pulling him in even closer. Danny responds by cupping Steve’s face with his hands, a loving look on his face.

“Here,” Danny says, pulling Steve’s face down a little, “let me lead.”

Danny kisses him softly and Steve lets him take control. Danny starts out slow, just giving him soft kisses against his lips and Steve moves with him. After a while Danny deepens the kiss and puts his hands on the back of Steve’s neck, one hand sliding up in Steve’s hair.

Steve lets out a soft satisfied sound at the feeling and Danny smiles against his lips. Suddenly Danny pushes against Steve a little more and Steve feels the wood of the door press against his back.

Danny kisses him passionately, filling the quiet and dark room with the sound of their lips and an occasional hum from either of them. One hand is still in Steve’s hair, the other roams his arm, his back, his stomach and Steve is completely overwhelmed again.

He pulls back a little and Danny lets him go, holding Steve in place by grabbing his upper arms and looking at him. “You okay?” Danny asks, his voice low and hoarse.

Steve nods and closes his eyes for a moment, resting his head against the door behind him, taking a moment to steady his breathing. Danny groans softly and Steve opens his eyes to look down on him.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, a confused frown on his face.

Danny sighs and stares at his neck, “It’s really unfair how insanely hot you are.”

All attempts to calm down his breathing go flying out of the window, because Steve’s heart rate and breathing immediately speed up again and Danny meets his eyes at this response, a self indulgent grin on his face.

“Again, huh?” Danny says, raising his eyebrows, clearly really happy with himself.

Steve just hums in response, not able to say anything. “It’s okay babe,” Danny says, “I like it when you do that.”

Danny leans forward and softly kisses Steve’s neck. Steve rests his head against the door again with a thud and gasps. Danny kisses him from where his neck and shoulder meet, to his jawline.

Steve lets out a groan when Danny kisses him at the end of his jaw, just under his earlobe. He feels Danny smile against his skin and he kisses his neck again at the same spot, loud and wet. Steve huffs out at every single one and he has a hard time remembering how to breathe.

His hands shoot up to Danny’s biceps, keeping him close. Danny moves one of his hands to Steve’s neck, pulling him closer too. He leaves a few love bites on Steve’s neck and Steve can’t contain a happy moan at the feeling. He’s never hearing the end of this at the office, but he doesn’t give a shit.

Danny works on the other side of his neck too, leaving Steve breathless and quivering when he finally pulls away. Danny stares at him, his lips red and plump, the corners of his eyes wrinkled because of his smile.

“You’re amazing,” Danny says softly.

Steve rolls his eyes at him but Danny continues, “No really, you’re my favourite person to do this to.”

Steve frowns, “What, you do this all the time with people?”

Danny chuckles, “You know what I mean, you idiot.”

Steve challenges him with his eyes, daring him to continue. Danny picks up on it and keeps going, “You’re my favourite person to flirt with, because you get so awestruck and breathless, it’s amazing.”

Steve rolls his eyes again and lowers his head, “Shut up, Danny,” he says, making sure Danny can’t talk anymore by kissing him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Writing Steve as an oblivious bean having a big gay panic was way too much fun! If you have any feedback, be sure to let me know! I love hearing from you :)


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